2016

Let us be entirely honest and say this is not from 2017. Back in September of 2016, 100 tapes of Under the Mark of the Devil EP were released probably to a small group of people. In 2017, the band put out the Ep again with different art to the protest of no one. Actual release dates get murky when you deal on this level and for all intents and purposes, this death/thrash release can occupy two spaces.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Sulphurous has been around for a few years but this is another example of a band who is taking their time. With their third demo released in September of this year, the Denmark based death metal band has three releases to their name with a 7 inch reprint of their most recent demo. It is alright. I can wait. We can all be patient for this type of music. I know you can wait.

Things like this are why I started this blog. I do not do many rehearsals and in fact many rehearsals that are out there are released under the that banner just for the raw credibility as being as far from professional as possible. Brainshock’s Rehearsal is really a practice as you can hear chatter between tracks, uneven audio levels and an air of “let us see how this goes.”Cap this off off with an internet picture of Phillip Channard from Hellraiser II and one has a record that was just put up literally 2 days ago. The reason why rehearsals are still used as an aesthetic is to represent perhaps the raw and baseline potential for a band. If we were going to a projection, Brainshock has the ability to conquer the world.

The intersection between black metal and hardcore punk can be a visceral one. Since the two styles are intertwined at the roots, the exploration of the grey era between punk and metal is a minefield with large craters in the ground with festering water collecting near the bottom. East Sherman is a self proclaimed Vegan Blackened Hardcore outfit out of the Pacific Northwest and Desertification is the band’s loudest debut aside from all those other splits.

Convulsing was a surprise this year for many reasons. First of all it came out of nowhere and second of all, this is the first release from an otherwise unknown solo artist from Australia. With a lot of things working against Convulsing, the artists debut is a furious take on black / death with both grooves and horrid abstractions.

I am actually getting sort of mad at the West Coast for having such a gnarly scene of disgusting black and death metal. Out of left field comes another act with little information a loud bite. Where are all of these bands coming from? Do they all Maltheist is from Portland Oregon and their 11 track demo has the consistency of gasoline igniting in a glass bottle.

I get incredulous when things like this pass me by or atleast someone else clues me into its existence. Add to this the fact this band is in the same state as me and the fact that they have an unmistakable album cover plus being a demo and I start to wonder how many other things I have missed out on.

Replication is flattery when a band is completely honest about their intentions. Mikey Witchfucker, the one man central command for this Canadian outfit has already listed bands like Blasphemy and Beherit as major sources of information. With a demo that doesn’t even reach the 10 minute mark, let us see how crazy we can get.

A couple of friends and I have contests to see who can mine the best music out of the field of brand new releases. I feel that checking back to Caligari records every so often is cheating since this label has been known to already have a good system which finds the most vile and fiery bands from across the globe. Enter Obscure Evil whose previous 2016 demo was enough to take notice but the band’s new EP is something to behold.